Attachment relationships between children and their primary caretakers have been hypothesized to contribute to internal working models of subsequent relationships with others. Poor attachment might lead to internal working models which devalue later relationships, making the perpetration of violence against others more likely. One focus of this study was to propose a model which combined parental bonding, adolescent attachment, and perceived family support to predict the severity of violence used against others by adolescent delinquents. A second focus was to test the proposed model in predicting the total number of violent offenses committed by adolescent delinquents. One hundred and forty-five male adolescents, who had been convicted of at least one violent crime against another person, were tested using three instruments; (1) the Parental Bonding Instrument, (2) the Adolescent Attachment Questionnaire, and (3) the Perceived Social Support Scale - Family. It was hypothesized that higher bonding, attachment, and family support scores would be negatively correlated with Severity of Crime. It was also hypothesized that the proposed model would account for a greater proportion of the variance for Severity of Crime than for Total Number of Violent Crimes. Partial support for the first hypothesis was found. The results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the model accounted for twice the variance for Severity of Crime than for Total Number of Violent Crimes. The model also gained statistical significance for Severity of Violence, but not for Total Number of Violent Crimes. It appears that attachment may play some role in the severity of violence used against others, but does not appear to have a significant impact on the number of violent crimes committed. Possible family dynamics in this population and study methodology issues are discussed which might have accounted for the lack of stronger results.

Attorney and judicial attitudes towards expert witnesses in child custody cases were investigated by a cross-sectional research design. Subjects consisted of a sample of 381 of all attorneys and judges in the Commonwealth of Virginia who wished to be certified as guardians ad litem. Subjects were asked to fill out a six page questionnaire immediately prior to a daylong certification training session. The sample was primarily white (85.2%) and male (57.7%). Information was gathered on the subjects' demographic characteristics, experience with and attitudes toward expert witnesses in custody cases, opinions on traditional court and family structures, and knowledge of developmental and parenting psychology. Factor analyses and examination of the reliability of the instruments allows the development of more reliable and valid measures for model testing. Results generally confirmed Banks & Poythress' (1982) tripartite theory of credibility as being composed of perceived expertise, trustworthiness, and dynamism. Characteristics of attorneys and judges were also shown to be an important contributor to their perceptions of expert witnesses in child custody cases. Specifically, those courtroom professionals who had greater training, knowledge, and experience relevant to custody cases tended to view specific expert witnesses more positively. Those attorneys and judges with more traditional court attitudes rated expert witnesses in general as less helpful. However, these traditional attitudes did not cause them to devalue expert witness testimony in specific cases. This study is part of a larger program of study which will attempt to determine the extent to which the quality of expert witness testimony affects perceptions of their credibility, and how perceptions of expert witness credibility relate to judicial decisionmaking in child custody cases.

<p> This study examined the role of protective factors (i.e., social support) and risk factors (i.e., cocaine abuse/dependence) in psychological outcomes (i.e., major depressive disorder, irritable depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder) among racially diverse female survivors of sexual victimization. Archival data from a subsample of participants (<i>n</i> = 1115), those who endorsed experiences of sexual victimization, from the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication, a cross-sectional survey of mental disorders of the general population of the United States, were examined. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine if the predictor variables (i.e., social support and cocaine abuse/dependence) were related to the outcomes variable (i.e., major depressive disorder, irritable depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder) and then to determine if the moderating variable (i.e., race) changed the relationship between the predictor variables and the outcomes variables. Respondents who endorsed sexual victimization and reported experiencing less positive support were more likely to have PTSD. Respondents who endorsed sexual victimization and also met criteria for cocaine abuse/dependence were more likely to have PTSD. Compared to Caucasians, Asian American Pacific Islanders and Latinas were significantly more likely to have experienced PTSD. Limitations and implications are discussed.</p>

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often have one or more comorbid medical conditions including cerebral palsy (CP). Due to the overlaps between ASD and CP symptomatology (e.g., impairments in speech, repetitive movements, atypical sensory issues), co-occurring CP often leads to delayed diagnoses of ASD interfering with early interventions and subsequently affecting functional outcome. Utilizing the Baby and Infant Screen for Children with aUtIsm Traits-Part 1 (BISCUIT-Part 1) and the Battelle Developmental Inventory, Second Edition (BDI-2), this study assessed and compared ASD symptomatology and developmental functioning in three groups of infants and toddlers, namely, those with ASD only, those with CP only, and those with comorbid ASD and CP. Results of the current study revealed significant group differences were found in both BISCUIT-Part 1 and BDI-2 total scores. Significant differences were also found in all BISCUIT-Part 1 domains and BDI-2 personal-social and motor domains. Interpretation and implication of the study findings are discussed.

Recent work has shown that intentional forgetting of distracting, erroneous, or irrelevant information aids memory, and relies on active, effortful processes. Two experiments investigated the underlying attentional mechanisms that are active during directed forgetting (DF). Across both experiments, participants completed a modified item-method DF task, in which they received memory instructions to remember or forget individual images for a subsequent memory test. Participants studied items associated with remember or forget instructions before they were shown a subliminal presentation of target items. Finally, participants responded to probes by identifying briefly shown letters to assess how attention and item identity information are inhibited following forget instructions. In Experiment 1, after studying items, participants completed either an explicit memory test (recognition) or an implicit memory task (perceptual identification). Experiment 2 extended the findings of Experiment 1 by examining how spatial information is inhibited following instructions to forget, given spatial components in many recent investigations of DF (e.g., Fawcett & Taylor, 2008, 2010; Taylor, 2005). Although it was predicted that active forgetting would be associated with attentional inhibition linked to both item identity and spatial location, results revealed no inhibitory effects during speeded probe responses across both experiments. However, clear forgetting effects were observed, with participants exhibiting better memory for items they were cued to remember, relative to items they were cued to forget. The results of both experiments support the hypothesis that some information is lost or degraded by instructions to intentionally forget, but raise further questions about the nature of attentional withdrawal proposed to occur during a DF task.

Sickle cell disease is a chronic lifelong illness that affects 1 in 400 to 500 African Americans in the United States. In addition to being at increased risk for cognitive deficits, children with sickle cell disease may also be at greater risk for emotional distress. The current study investigates the relationship between cognitive functioning, coping, and emotional distress in children and adolescents with SCD. Forty-seven children with sickle cell disease completed cognitive assessments assessing working memory and verbal comprehension, and their parents completed questionnaires that reported on child coping and emotional distress. Results showed that verbal comprehension was significantly associated with secondary control coping. Both working memory and secondary control coping were associated with depressive symptoms. Further analyses showed that verbal comprehension had an indirect association with depressive symptoms through secondary control coping, whereas working memory only had a direct association with depressive symptoms. The implication of these findings are discussed.

Multiple genetic and environmental factors have roles in the etiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Thus, researchers have become increasingly interested in studying family members of individuals with ASD in order to examine possible risk factors and to identify early markers of the disorder. While family history of ASD may put an individual at risk for developing autism, there is limited research examining how the degree of relationship to the affected individual may be related to an individuals presenting ASD symptomatology. Because closer familial relationships (i.e., first-degree relatives) have more shared genetic material and tend to have increased common environment than more distal relationships (i.e., second- or third-degree relatives), the present study aimed to examine if there was an association between degree of relationship and autism symptomatology in young children with a family history of ASD. Participants included 470 young children (M = 25.64 months, SD = 5.07) recruited through a statewide early intervention program who were diagnosed with ASD or identified as atypically developing with a family history of ASD. Regression analyses were conducted to investigate the relationships between group (e.g., ASD and atypically developing), degree of relationship (e.g., first-degree and second- or third-degree), and the interaction between group and degree of relationship and ASD symptomatology. Implications and clinical utility of these results are discussed.

Previous neuroimaging studies have suggested ventral prefrontal cortex (PFC) involvement in emotion regulation. However, critical evidence demonstrating the ventral PFCâs direct influence on emotion regulation is still lacking. Furthermore, it is unclear whether this hypothesized role of the ventral PFC in emotion regulation generalizes to situations that require uninstructed and spontaneous engagement of regulation. These critical gaps in our knowledge were addressed by utilizing, i) low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of healthy individuals performing instructed emotion regulation, and ii) experience-sampling of emotion regulation in a sample of patients with ventral PFC lesions. Study results indicated that experimental disruption of cortical activity of healthy individualâs ventrolateral PFC resulted in a laterality-specific modulation of regulation effectiveness for negative affect. Specifically, left-sided disruption resulted in inhibition whereas right-sided disruption resulted in enhancement of reappraisal effectiveness. Supportive evidence from skin conductance responses reflecting physiological arousal during emotion regulation further corroborated these results. Results from the experience sampling study demonstrated that individuals with damage to the ventral PFC region experience intensity of subjective emotional experience and emotional fluctuation that are different from normative patterns of affect regulation observed in healthy controls. Results from these two studies enrich our understanding of frontal lobe involvement in emotion regulation. More broadly, they can contribute to identifying novel treatment targets for clinical conditions affected by mood dysregulation, such as depression, bipolar disorders, and anxiety disorders.

Data presented in this paper address questions about binge eating disorder (BED) recognition as a barrier to care, attitudes toward binge eating treatment options, and feasibility of guided self-help (GSH) cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for binge eating in black American, lower socioeconomic status (SES) women. This paper presents results from two studies. In Study 1, equal numbers of black and white American women completed a computerized experiment in which they were presented with photographic and narrative vignettes of women with BED who were either black or white American and of lower or higher SES. Study 2 participants completed this recognition task, after which half were randomized to GSH CBT based on Overcoming Binge Eating (Fairburn, 2013) and encouraged to use the Recovery Record mobile application ("Recovery Record," 2014) for self-monitoring. Additionally, Study 2 participants rated the acceptability of evidence-based binge eating treatments and modes of delivery. Findings emphasize that overall BED recognition is low, with some evidence that white, lower SES women are more likely to recognize BED and that community recognition is lower when symptoms present in black, lower SES women. Pilot study results also indicate that recruiting participants appears to be the biggest barrier to GSH CBT in black, lower SES women, although the average initiation rate, low attrition rate, and general acceptability rankings of GSH CBT found here support the potential utility of this treatment.

The present study integrated and expanded upon two previously separate lines of research on stress and coping processes endemic to mothers faced with two significant sources of stress: mothers coping with a childâs cancer diagnosis and treatment within the context of sociodemographic disadvantage. Through the use of multiple interaction models, the goal of this study was to elucidate contextual and personal risk factors for psychological distress among mothers of children with cancer in order to effectively identify and assist families in need. Mothers of children with cancer (N = 209) completed measures of demographics, cancer-related stress, and secondary control coping both near the time of their childâs diagnosis (M = 2.04 months; time 1) and 12 months later (time 2). A cumulative sociodemographic disadvantage index was created to assess the cumulative impact of sociodemographic factors including single parenthood, income, and education. The interactive effects of these three variables on depressive symptoms were examined in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. At time 1, a three-way interaction emerged such that the greatest risk for depressive symptoms was associated with a combination of high sociodemographic disadvantage, high cancer-related stress, and low use of secondary control coping strategies. At time 2 there was no significant three-way interaction, however the moderating effect of coping persisted such that secondary control coping separately interacted with sociodemographic disadvantage and cancer-related stress to predict distress two-way interactions. In prospective analyses from time 1 to time 2, only significant main effects for mothersâ time 1 symptoms and secondary control coping were significant predictors of symptoms one year later. This study highlights the importance of rigorously incorporating consideration of sociodemographic disadvantage into research among mothers facing a childâs cancer diagnosis and treatment. Further, results suggest that use of secondary control coping strategies serves as an effective buffer against the risk for psychological distress conferred by sociodemographic disadvantage and heightened cancer-related stress both near the time of diagnosis and 12 months later. Implications for screening, intervention, and policy are discussed.